Look into house-hacking, sub-leasing when it's legal, options like these are lower cost effective ways to get started that you can actually leverage to successfully invest long-term.Otherwise, there's no golden goose, and no get-rich quick option in real estate, same as everywhere else.I hope this helps, reach out anytime with questionsBest,Ryan

As for your credit score, no you backing out now and them keeping your deposit would likely be the end of everything and you shouldn't anticipate any negative effects to your credit score.

Is it more cost effective to repair cracks and apply stucco/paint or to place sheet rock over it?

Yes, they are better, but rehab the ones in the other less desirable areas nicely (and cost effectively) and you'll easily rent a 2 or 3 bed for $800-$1100 in the other C neighborhoods.

I have create some ghost ads on craigslist but not receiving the amount of cash buyers as quickly as I want. I would like some more efficient ways to create a cash buyers list.

Potential cash flow is $8,066.00 a month with the current tenant agreement that will go into effect 6/15/2020What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Hi Ken - outside of having a book keeper or CPA, Avalara is a cost-effective option - https://www.avalara.com/mylodgetax/en/index.html

This policy is in effect only for 5 years. 

You can do one-up skip tracing pretty effectively. 

This is was a crime scene - he should have called police and asked to have someone come out to take a report.So, most of you reflected those same thoughts.What the owner did ...The owner, effectively, did a "do it yourself eviction".